Whether it’s the 24-hour cable news cycle, social media or simply that Americans are unwilling to take a stand against a broken system, General Colin Powell says the American government is perhaps the worst he’s ever seen it. In his interview with former Utah governor Jon Huntsman on SiriusXM P.O.T.U.S. Politics’ No Labels Radio, Powell took his first shots at cable news and social media, before holding his fellow Americans accountable for their failure to “throw the guys out” who aren’t doing their job in Washington.

“In order to be profitable and appeal to more niche of the population [cable news channels] become more angry in their presentations. If you just believe in the right side of the political spectrum you watch FOX and have your views reinforced to you all day long. If you are to the left side of the spectrum you watch MSNBC and similar shows, and you have your views reinforced. But you’re never listening to anyone else’s views,” he said.

While Powell does have faith that Americans will take a stand at some point, he was not optimistic that it would happen anytime soon.

“We are a resilient nation that always will overcome these kind of obstacles. And that’s why I think we can overcome this obstacle that we have in front of us right now. But it’s going to be a lot harder … The American people have to start rising up … I don’t find that the American people are prepared to do that yet. They are essentially not ready to throw the guys out and so we have to get the American people excited and outraged about this.”

And what kind of global effect is this having? Quite a bit, according to what Powell has seen on his extensive travels around the world.

“In a way, it seems we are letting democracy down. People are losing faith around the world in our system of government. We presented it as ‘hey, democracy’s great’ … but if our democracy no longer seems to be working, if our public discourse seems to be so hostile with respect to each other, [if] Congress is not doing the job that they are sent there to do, then other countries are saying ‘don’t lecture to us, anymore.’ And I can see that in different places in the world … we are losing the position of being the example that we used to be because we are not getting it done,” he warned.

While Washington is more polarized than ever, more than 85 members of Congress have committed themselves to holding regular “across the aisle” meetings to end the gridlock and make historic change in the bipartisan dialogue in our nation’s government. Every week, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman joins SiriusXM POTUS to open that dialogue to the people, putting aside labels and talking about America’s biggest issues as one people on No Labels Radio.